The present invention relates to cleaning apparatus, and more particularly to a unique device for cleaning portions of overhead paint line systems.
Continuous paint line systems, as used in many industries, typically include an overhead conveyor from which a plurality of support hooks or carries are suspended. Parts racks or hangers are positioned on the support hooks. The support hooks carry the parts racks through the paint line enclosures. Over a period, the hooks become coated with paint. With electrostatic painting systems, the paint build up on the carriers interferes with the electric current flow. This may result in improper paint adhesion. The carriers must be removed and cleaned at regular intervals. The cleaning procedures may involve cleaning the carriers or hooks in solvent. Such a manual cleaning process involves considerable expense, lengthy down time and is labor intensive.
In an attempt to overcome problems with manual cleaning of components of the paint line systems, at least one in-line cleaning system has been developed. The system includes an oven which is positionable along the paint line system. The oven employs a plurality of gas burners which remove the paint from the support hooks by burning the paint to ash. The hooks are subsequently washed to remove the ash. An example of such a system may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,830,196 entitled CLEANING PAINT HOOKS and issued on Aug. 20, 1974 to Guttman et al.
Presently available cleaning methods suffer from inherent problems relating to cost, operability and the like. For example, burnoff furnaces inherently present safety and combustion product removal problems.
A need exists, therefore, for a paint line cleaning system which effectively cleans the support hooks or carriers without excessive hazard to personnel and which permits ready collection and disposal of chips, dust and debris.